The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to medical imaging systems, and more particularly to reduction of airborne radiation contamination for detector heads.
In nuclear medicine (NM) imaging, such as single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or positron emission tomography (PET) imaging, radiopharmaceuticals may be administered internally to a patient. Detectors (e.g., gamma cameras), typically installed on a gantry, capture the radiation emitted by the radiopharmaceuticals and this information is used, by a computer, to form images. The NM images primarily show physiological function of, for example, the patient or a portion of the patient being imaged. Detectors, however, may be subject to contamination from airborne radiation, such as a radiopharmaceutical that has been inhaled by a patient for imaging one or more aspects of the lungs and subsequently exhaled. Such contamination from airborne radiation negatively affects image quality, and may require re-imaging of the patient. The contamination degrades the performance of NM cameras as it may enter into the collimator and then have a profound effect on the detector, for example.